Prospectus Supplement
dated January 11, 1999 to:
PUTNAM VARIABLE TRUST (THE "TRUST") 49430 1/99
Prospectuses dated April 30, 1998 and April 30, 1998, as revised
July 2, 1998
1. In the section entitled "How the Trust is managed," the chart
indicating the officers of Putnam Investment Management, Inc.
("Putnam Management") that have primary responsibility for the
day-to-day management of the portfolios of Putnam VT The George
Putnam Fund of Boston, Putnam VT Global Growth Fund and Putnam VT
Vista Fund is replaced with the following:
BUSINESS EXPERIENCE
YEAR (AT LEAST 5 YEARS)
---- -----------------------------
PUTNAM VT THE GEORGE PUTNAM FUND OF BOSTON
Edward P. Bousa 1998 Employed as an investment
professional Senior Vice President by
Putnam Management since 1992.
James M. Prusko 1998 Employed as an investment
professional Senior Vice President by
Putnam Management since 1992.
David L. Waldman 1998 Employed as an investment
professional Managing Director by
Putnam Management since 1997.
Prior to June 1997, Mr. Waldman was
a Senior Portfolio Manager at Lazard
Freres, and prior to April 1995 held
various titles at Goldman Sachs including
Analyst, Associate, Portfolio Manager
and Vice President.
Krishna K. Memani 1999 Employed as an investment
professional Managing Director by
Putnam Management since 1998. Prior
to September 1998, Mr. Memani
was a Principal at Morgan Stanley & Co.
PUTNAM VT GLOBAL
GROWTH FUND
Robert Swift 1996 Employed as an investment professional
Senior Managing Director by Putnam
Management since 1995. Prior
to August, 1995, Mr. Swift
was Director and Senior Portfolio Manager
at IAI International/Hill Samuel
Investment Advisors.
Kelly A. Morgan 1997 Employed as an investment
professional Senior Vice President by
Putnam Management since 1996. Prior
to December, 1996, Ms. Morgan
was a Senior Vice President
at Alliance Capital Management L.P.
David J. Santos 1999 Employed as an investment professional
Senior Vice President by Putnam
Management since 1986.
Lisa Svensson 1998 Employed as an investment
professional Senior Vice President by
Putnam Management since 1994. Prior
to July, 1994, Ms. Svensson
was a Securitites Analyst at
Lord Abbett & Co.
Manuel Weiss 1998 Employed as an investment
professional Senior Vice President by
Putnam Management since 1987.
Olivier Rudigoz 1998 Employed as an investment
professional Vice President by
Putnam Management since July, 1998.
Prior to April, 1998, Mr.
Rudigoz was a Portfolio
Manager at Paribas Asset
Management.
PUTNAM VT VISTA FUND
Eric Wetlaufer 1997 Employed as an investment
professional Managing Director by
Putnam Management since 1997. Prior
to November 1997, Mr. Wetlaufer was
employed as a Managing Director and
Portfolio Manager at Cadence Capital
Management.
Anthony C. Santosus 1996 Employed as an investment
professional Senior Vice President by
Putnam Management since 1985.
Margery C. Parker 1998 Employed as an investment
professional Senior Vice President by
Putnam Management since 1997.
Prior to December 1997, Ms. Parker was
a Vice President and Portfolio Manager
at Keystone Investments.
Dana Clark 1999 Employed as an investment
professional Vice President by Putnam
Management since 1987.
2. Effective January 11, 1998, the following text will follow
the penultimate paragraph of the section entitled "Putnam VT
International New Opportunities Fund"
The fund may enter into other types of "over-the-counter"
transactions with broker-dealers or other financial institutions
such as "swap" contracts, in which its investment return will
depend on the change in value of a specified security or index.
The fund would typically receive from the counterparty the amount
of any increase, and pay to the counterparty the amount of any
decrease, in the value of the underlying security or index. The
contracts would thus, absent the failure of the counterparty to
complete its obligations, provide to the fund approximately the
same return as it would have realized if it had owned the
security or index directly.
The fund's ability to realize a profit from such transactions
will depend on the ability of the financial institutions with
which it enters into the transactions to meet their obligations
to the fund. Under certain circumstances, suitable transactions
may not be available to the fund, or the fund may be unable to
close out its position under such transactions at the same times,
or at the same prices, as if it had purchased comparable publicly
traded securities.
